Vanderbilt sweeps SEC's weekly freshman basketball honors

Monday, January 4, 2010 at 2:15pm

Staff reports

Jenkins

Vanderbilt basketball players John Jenkins and Tiffany Clarke both earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors on Monday.

Jenkins earned the men’s basketball award after he averaged 17.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals in victories over Manhattan and Southern Miss last week. He went 6-for-6 from the field – all 3-pointers – and scored a career-high 20 points Saturday against Southern Miss. He had a career-high six rebounds against Manhattan.

The Gallatin product has led the Commodores in scoring each of the last three games and has raised his scoring average to 10.7 points per game.

The award is the first of his college career.

Clarke collected her second women’s basketball weekly award after she averaged 18 points and eight rebounds in three contests. She scored 27 points – the most by a VU freshman in nine years – against East Tennessee State and had 11 points and nine rebounds at No. 3 Notre Dame. Sunday, in her first career SEC contest, she had 18 points in 7-for-10 shooting as the Commodores defeated Ole Miss.

The Norcross, Ga., native is the first VU women’s player ever to earn multiple Freshman of the Week honors. The conference has presented the award since 2006.